Reading Room: Bonding by Stew

[tinturtle]

Welcome, everyone, to the reading room discussion of Bonding by Stew. As I did last time, I've written a summary of the story. This one is quite long.

As the story opens, Doyle is telling his mother about his day. He feels guilty that he had to kill someone in order to save Bodie. Meanwhile, Bodie is at the pub with other CI5 operatives.

The next day, they discuss their different activities. Doyle reflects that he has never fit in with his coworkers enough to be able to socialize with them the way Bodie does. Bodie tells Doyle, however, that male bonding is a myth, and the relationships he has with his drinking mates don't mean anything. Despite this, Doyle determines to try to bond with Bodie.

After getting soaked at the end of Private Madness, Public Danger, Bodie and Doyle both go home to Bodie's flat, where Doyle peruses Bodie's decorations and book and record collections. He tells Bodie a story about his time at school, but is stung by Bodie's teasing afterward and is unsure whether they have made a step toward friendship or not.

Doyle suggests a double date with the women from the beginning of The Female Factor. They have fun and end up playing board games in Doyle's flat. They are interrupted by the phone call about Ann Seaford. This reveals some of Doyle's past life to Bodie, but Doyle thinks of how little he knows of Bodie's past. Later, Doyle overhears the other operatives talking about how he doesn't fit in socially, but also overhears Bodie defending him.

During the events of Old Dog With New Tricks, Doyle feels included in Bodie's wisecracking, but also jealous of Bodie's rapport with Cowley and his relationship with his current girlfriend, whom Doyle chases off with the "you must be Betty" comment. Doyle feels that he is becoming friends with Bodie, and is pleased by Bodie's comment during the events of Killer With a Long Arm that the two of them are a mobile ghetto.

After Tommy McKay is killed in Heroes, Bodie and Doyle go to Doyle's flat, where they get drunk and play cards. Doyle asserts that they are bonding, but Bodie denies that it means anything. Doyle becomes angry and attacks Bodie. They wrestle, awakening sexual desire in Doyle, and he initiates sex with Bodie. Afterward, however, he regrets it, and will not speak to Bodie, who leaves instead.

They do not discuss the sex in the following days, either. During Bodie's fight with Krivas in Where the Jungle Ends, Doyle is distressed by Bodie's lawless violence, even though he stops short of murder. Nevertheless, they continue to be casual friends and see a film together.

Doyle worries about Bodie when he disappears during the events of Close Quarters and regrets that he was not with him when he was in danger. Afterward, he goes to Bodie's flat to help him out, as Bodie has both hands bandaged. They share Bodie's bed and Doyle ends up initiating sex again. Doyle makes to leave soon after it is finished, and he and Bodie have a short argument in which Bodie declares that their sexual encounters never happened.

When Bodie and Doyle discuss Ann Berry during Everest Was Also Conquered, Doyle wonders whether Bodie is reluctant to engage in homosexuality or if he simply doesn't want to have a relationship with Doyle. He decides it is the former when Bodie continues to arrange double dates with women, such as the one in When the Heat Cools Off.

During the events of Stake Out, Doyle helps diffuse the atomic bomb. Doyle is tense afterward and he and Bodie go to his flat to unwind. Doyle talks about his fear of his own violent temper, which he likens to the violence of nuclear weapons. Then he becomes fearful of what might have happened had he failed to diffuse the bomb. Bodie listens to him and talks him down, also remarking that he doesn't know what his life would be without Doyle and Cowley. After a period of silence, Bodie suggests sex. It is more tender and emotional than the previous times, and Bodie says that it, in particular, never happened.

While telling his mother about the events of Long Shot, Doyle says that he thinks he and Bodie are finally friends. During the events of Look After Annie, Doyle realizes that he is, in fact, falling in love with Bodie, and during Klansmen he is deeply affected by Bodie's stabbing. After that op, he goes to Bodie's flat and declares his love to him. Bodie does not trust his feelings or Doyle's, but admits in a roundabout way that he is attached to Doyle as well, and consents to give a relationship a try.

The End

How did you like this story? Did the characterizations ring true for you? Doyle as a social misfit? Bodie as emotionally closed off? Do you think the use of the first series episodes as a framework for the story was effective? Were you satisfied with the ending? Let us know what you think.